Striking Destiny
by hazel260
Summary: Episode 60, Into the Inferno: Azula challenges Zuko to an agni kai, but she cheats and shoots lightning at Katara. My write up of what actually happened in episode. 2 chapters. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**So, sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Well, actually, scratch that, i haven't even _written_ anything in a while. I've been super-duper busy. Anyways, seeing as I'd rather write than do work, here's something I wrote in science class when i was epic-ly bored XD  
This is a kind of random, spazzy, dramatic thing centering on the agni kai between Azula and Zuko in Into the Inferno (epi 60). Please enjoy! :)**

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Zuko saw it – saw it before it happened. In his sister's eyes, there was a slight flicker, bright as her blue flames. And just like that, her harshly cut hair swung to her left, following her head, her body, her arm, and those deadly fingers.

The air felt cold as the princess, desperate and at her breaking point, released her final fires of sanity – at Katara.

This was no longer an agni kai against Azula, not a fight of the elements, not a battle between brother and sister: this was a race against time.

And these next few seconds would mark Zuko's fate forever.

Without thinking, he knew what he would do before the lightning even left her fingers. He ran, not believing all of this was happening. He did not look at Katara's shocked face but into Azula's dark, cruel eyes, her smirk growing wider as sparks formed – and then left – her fingertips.

Zuko felt that he was not part of what was happening, merely sitting on the rooftops above, watching, without feeling, an agni kai that would change the world – and most of all, his own destiny.

He did not think of what honor he did or did not have, nor what the risk of his actions might be. This was not about him or Katara, the avatar or Azula, not even about his father. This was the clock counting down, ticking much too fast.

He could have thought about all of this, about what he was really doing, but he did not. Zuko's mind was blank, and it was his heart, not his head, that was making him do what he was.

And it was certainly not his past or his family that would lead him to jump in front of Azula's lightning bolt to save a friend – a friend who was not Fire Nation, one he had once thought an enemy.

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**That's all. It was going to be longer, but I didn't have time to do anything else. I figured I'd post this much and write the rest of the scene later. Hope my brain and my writing-skillage hasn't suffered too much from all this icky school.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The second and final [planned] instalment. Hope you enjoy.**

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The once dim light of the coronation plaza was now bright as a sunset, a mystical light shooting away, away, away from his sister. It was here that Zuko realized, as he ran, that he would not get there in time, would not be able to redirect the lightning – and Katara would be hit. No longer could running solve his problems. Even now, no longer endlessly searching, a destination in sight, he was powerless.

And it was this feeling of helplessness that gave him strength.

All his life, someone had been telling him what to do. His grandfather, his father, Azula; all these people had been dictating how he would live his life. He was tired of being pushed around. No longer could someone order him to do what they wanted. These last few months had taught him he could control his own destiny.

Zuko _hated_ the idea of being powerless once again. He would not let it happen.

So he jumped, throwing all his energy into one final leap, crying out a despondent – "NO!" – and unsure if it was for Katara or this lack of power. And that was the last Zuko knew, that lightning bolt flying towards him, that final, despairing word, before a shocking, intense, hot-then-cold shudder racked his chest, spreading throughout his body as he fell downwards.

When Zuko hit the ground, he barely felt it. His entire being was absorbed in the pain from Azula's lightning strike. After a few convulsions, he found he couldn't move anymore. Zuko, through the slits of his eyelids, thought he could see Katara moving towards him, then leaping away suddenly as more lightning and fire rained down from cruel fingertips. Azula's cackling laugh was faint in his ears.

But he had caught it. Foiled Azula's scheme. Katara had not been struck by the lightning. To save a friend, to stand up against his sister, it was all worth the ever-increasing pain.

Zuko tried to get up, to fight back as much as he could, but collapsed again on the ground of the coronation plaza. He watched Katara dodge Azula's blue fire and reached out, trying to help, but still, he could hardly move. It was only a matter of time before Azula won. With no water to bend, Katara couldn't run forever.

So Azula would win after all. After everything that had happened, his little sister would come out ahead once more – but this was the one time when it really did matter who lost.

Zuko's breathing came in ragged gasps, and there seemed to be no other noise but for the shudders of water and fire, ice and flame. He kept trying to ignore the pain, win the battle against the agony he felt in every nerve of his body. It seemed to go on forever, an endless pain, an endless fight.

Then all other noise stopped. He heard a final crash of water, gasps and coughs he couldn't separate from his own. He twitched, still trying to get up, moaning with every ounce of energy it took to breathe. He felt hands on his back and chest, flipping him over. The pain tripled, the world going black, the coronation plaza darkening even as the sun rose.

Then suddenly, he felt a cooling sensation on his chest – no, in it – spreading throughout his body. He winced, but the agony was becoming a little less with every second.

He opened his eyes.

He whispered to the girl kneeling beside him, "Thank you, Katara."

Her voice was soft but clear, oh so wonderfully clear. "I think I'm the one who should be thanking you."

She helped him as he struggled to sit up, and he noticed the tears sliding down her cheeks as his breaths finally came more easily. A new strength, one incomparable to what he had ever felt before, flowed through his body. He stood, Katara to his left with her hand on his back to steady him, his own arm reaching around his torso to hold his side as the pain slowly ebbed away. Zuko watched his sister struggle against the chain that pinned her to the ground by her wrists, screaming, crying, breathing blue fire around herself. He could not feel any compassion towards the one who might be called his sister. Azula had lost.

And Zuko, though he'd been struck down, had finally won.

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**I was hoping to dedicate this chapter to a friend of mine, not that he cares anymore. He was all I thought about when writing this... **


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